City zoning pubic hearing Monday

Mental health counseling should be allowed as a home occupation, according to a recommended ordinance change up for a public hearing on Monday before the Henderson City Council.

The recommendation falls short of helping Frances Finamore, who originally requested the ordinance change for her home occupation idea on Parham Street. Finamore wants to provide counseling help mainly to disabled veterans.

The recommendation that city planners hammered out with City Attorney John H. Zollicoffer last month is included with the information available to council members in preparation for Monday’s public hearing.

In it, planners noted they dismissed the idea of adding Finamore’s R15 zoned neighborhood to the list of eight named neighborhood zone classifications where the mental health counseling could take place.

The eight includes five residential neighborhood types, including R15M that adds mobile homes to the more restrictive R15 classification, but they still left out R15.

Mental health counseling would be added to hairdressing, barber, dress making, clothing alterations, engineer, architect and surveyor occupations to the eight zone classifications where home occupations are allowed.

Planners said they did not want to open R15 up even a little to home occupation opportunities, but keep it uniform with the eight zoning classifications that allow a list of home occupations.

“Mental health counseling would be added to the list,” said Sherry Moss, the Henderson zoning administer. “The board excluded the R15.”

Moss said she could not comment on why R15M, where mobile homes are allowed, is part of the list for home occupations and not R15.

“I can only go by what is allowed in the zoning ordinance,” she said.

In other business, the council will also consider an appropriation of $29,678 to cover repairs of a shelter damaged by fire at the police training center on Oxford Road in March. The appropriation is already covered by an insurance claim check already deposited in city savings accounts.

A work session following regular council business will focus on extraterritorial jurisdiction enforcement issues that include unkept properties and blighted structures. A recommendation for limited enforcement of nuisances is included.

A recommendation by the council would set in motion a series of hearings before city planners, the public and then the council again.